Nontraditional - Myths and Realities

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There are many myths about whether women can or should work in jobs that are considered nontraditional for them. Below are facts regarding common misconceptions about women working in male-dominated nontraditional jobs.

Myth: Women are in the labor force to earn some extra spending money.

Reality: The majority of women work because of economic need. In May 1986, two thirds of working mothers with children at home said that they worked to support their family. For all working women, over half worked to support their family and/or themselves. In 1992, 44 percent of women in the labor force were either single (24 percent), or divorced (12 percent), widowed (4 percent), or separated (4 percent). Women's need for good jobs is demonstrated by the fact that nearly 45 percent of all family households maintained by women lived in poverty in 1990.

Myth: Women and men are represented equally in most occupations.

Reality: Women workers are concentrated in traditionally female occupations. In 1994, women represented 78.9 percent of all administrative support (including clerical) workers and 66.1 percent of all retail and personal services workers, but only 9.3 percent of all precision production, craft, and repair workers and, as of 1990, 7.2 percent of all apprentices.

Myth: Certain jobs are "men's work" and other jobs are "women's work."

Reality: Attitudes about which jobs are appropriate for men and which ones are appropriate for women are the result of tradition and socialization. The vast majority of job requirements are unrelated to sex.

Myth: Jobs in which women are traditionally employed pay salaries comparable to jobs in which men are traditionally employed.

Reality: Jobs in which men are traditionally employed typically pay 30 percent more than traditionally female jobs. Two common traditional jobs for women, data entry clerk and secretary, pay $344 and $373 a week respectively. Mechanics and repairers, jobs predominately held by men, earn on average $523 a week. Overall, in 1991, women workers were paid $6.77 an hour compared with $8.73 for men, or just 77.5 percent of what men earned. For full-time year-round annual earnings, women's earnings were less than 70 percent of men's earnings, due in part to the concentration of women in low wage work.

Myth: Blue-collar work or heavy, physical labor is nontraditional for women.

Reality: Many jobs now thought to be nontraditional for women have been performed by women in the past. Throughout history, women have done heavy labor on the farm and in the fields alongside men, and during World War II, over 6 million women entered the labor force to build ships, airplanes and factory goods.

Myth: Women are not strong enough to do heavy labor.

Reality: The strength requirements for nontraditional jobs are often exaggerated. Many nontraditional jobs are less physically demanding than housework, and many traditional women's jobs, such as nursing and waitressing, are just as physically demanding as some nontraditional jobs. Moreover, the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that special equipment be provided for every heavy job regardless of whether they are being done by men or women. In addition, mechanization continues to decrease the level of physical demand of many jobs. Finally, while the average man is stronger than the average woman, some women are stronger than some men. Women have excellent lower-body strength and with training can develop strong upper-body muscles as well.

Myth: Nontraditional jobs are too dirty, noisy and dangerous for women.

Reality: Nontraditional jobs are often dirty and sometimes dangerous. However, both men and women must weigh the hazards with the benefits of taking certain jobs. In addition, many traditionally female jobs, like mothering and nursing, are dirty and messy, and some also have health hazards, such as computer terminal radiation and carpal tunnel syndrome. Many women do not mind getting dirty when they are paid a good wage, and with proper safety instruction, all workers can minimize the danger they experience on the job.

Myth: Women do not have the mechanical or mathematical aptitude for skilled trade work.

Reality: There is no difference in women's and men's innate skills and potential to justify existing occupational segregation. A study conducted by the Johnson O'Conner Research Foundation Human Engineering Laboratory found no difference attributable to sex in 14 of 22 aptitude tests given to men and women. In the eight remaining tests, women excelled in six tests and men scored higher in two.

Myth: A woman's place is in the home, not on a construction site.

Reality: In 1994, women accounted for 46 percent of the total labor force. Nearly two thirds of all women age 16 and over were in the labor force in 1991. Women accounted for 62 percent of total labor force growth between 1980 and 1991 and two out of every three workers entering the labor force between 1990 and 2005 will be women. The majority of women work because of economic necessity, and nontraditional jobs better enable women to support themselves and their families.

Myth: Women won't like trade work.

Reality: Many women enjoy working with their hands and outdoors. They take great pride in knowing that they have helped to build or create something. As a result, researchers have found that most tradeswomen have a high degree of job satisfaction.

Myth: Women will leave a job to get married and have children; therefore, the job should go to a man who will stay.

Reality: In March 1992, on average, women were found to work 30 years over the course of their lifetimes, regardless of whether or not they married. Of those women who do leave to have children, more than half return to the labor force when the child is one year oldor younger. By the time the youngest child is three years old, at least six out of every 10 mothers have entered or returned to the labor force.

Myth: Married women who have husbands to support them should stay home and leave the good paying jobs for men.

Reality: Many American families are unable to support themselves on a single income. As a result, the proportion of married-couple families with the wife in the paid labor force rose from approximately 40 percent in 1972 to 59 percent in 1990. In that same year, the median income for married-couple families with both husband and wife in the labor force was $44,053 compared to $32,478 for those without the wife in the paid labor force. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, even if all the employed married women gave their jobs to unemployed men, there would still be 1.2 million unfilled jobs.

Myth: Women on a job site make it difficult for men to concentrate; they are too distracting.

Reality: It will be different, at first, to have a woman on a work site if an employer has never hired one before. Employers can ensure workers' productivity by telling employees that a qualified woman has been hired and that harassment will not be tolerated. While sexual harassment can happen in any work environment, it can be particularly harsh for women working in nontraditional occupations. The problem that must be stopped is the harassing behavior, not women's entrance into the workplace.

Myth: Women will lose their femininity if they work in a trade.

Reality: Women can encounter offensive language anywhere, not just on the job site. While women need to be physically prepared for nontraditional jobs, there is nothing unfeminine about being physically fit. Finally, many women find that earning the good wages that nontraditional jobs pay enables them to buy the things that make them feel feminine.

Source: Wider Opportunities for Women.
Last Updated May 2004.